Beware of Darkness
by Thaddeus Halstead
Summary: Randall Flagg is in your dreams.


**Watch out now, take care**

**Beware of the thoughts that linger**

**Winding up inside your head**

**The hopelessness around you**

**In the dead of night – Beware of Darkness, George Harrison**

Darkness. Running. Breathlessness. That is all I remember. Loneliness. Since I had awoken in this dark, dank place, I had been running until I dropped to the ground. And I did drop eventually. My foot plunged into a deep puddle. I didn't see it. I slipped. Pain exploded and took over my senses; it obscured all other feelings. An agonized scream let loose from my cracked throat. It was harsh, unfamiliar. I began to weep. Hot tears trailed down my cheeks, dripping into nothingness.

I am all alone, and I know it deep down in my heart. No one can hear my shouts. No one can hear my pleas. No one is there–

But there is.

He is there. He is always there. He is here, waiting for me. He is_ everywhere_. And I am running right into His gaping jaws–ready to crunch down over my helpless body, splinter bone and taste flesh and blood. There are long yellow fangs dripping, waiting just for me, because I am His. He is toying with me–with my fear.

I had cried so hard and for such a long, _long_ time that there were no more tears left to well up in the corners of my eyes and spill forth. Now it is a dry sob. I struggle for breath; my body aches with weariness and hunger.

How long have I been running into darkness?

The air is hot and thin. It takes too much energy to draw breath now. I want to die. And I will die–He will see to that, but it will be in His time, not mine. I want to cry again, but weariness will not allow it.

I cannot see my aching, bleeding hands. The darkness is thick. I have no idea where I am. I had encountered no obstacles thus far. Frightened, I had run for–how long? Hours? Days? Years, it seems. All I remember was running blindly into the dark that has so captured me, weaving its spidery web, snaring my sanity.

He is always behind me, spuring me on, keeping my feet pounding against the cold hard earth. 'Oh, dear God,' I had murmured–though now I do not think that I had said anything at all. 'God cannot protect you here,' he scoffed.

The sound of leathery wings had deafened me then. Bats. Was I in a cave?

Now I know that it isn't so, but then I had dearly hoped. Caves are tanglibe, real. But caves have an end. Where I am does not end in any place known to my mind. I do not think that I am anywhere. He brought me here. There is no here. I am nowhere, yet I am somewhere. Insanity had laid its seed in my consciousness. It is now ripe and fruitful.

I stop sobbing. Silence. Pure, dead silence. I yell hoarsely. No echo. I yell again. My voice shakes, shatters and gives out.

He laughs from afar.

A hand lightly pushes into the center of my back between my shoulder blades. Before I know what is going on, I am up and stumbling, hobbling along. Fear drives me. My brain screams to stop, to rest a while. Common sense is washed away like a sand castle on the beach. The agonized screeching of my broken leg goes unnoticed.

Amidst the dark, a faint stream of light appears in the distance. Salvation. I hunger for the light, so I run faster, push my fatigued body to the limit. I want to slow down, allow oxygen to reach the brain, for my head feels like it will pop off any moment now, but the sudden feeling of someone on my heels pushes me harder.

The light is getting no closer. My hope wanes. Desperation creeps in, a soft-shoed shuffler dancing down the side walk as each unconscious sufferer wanders aimlessly. Sweat streams down my face, blinding me, making the light waver like a mirage.

And then I am there, basking in what little light trickles down. I bathe in its heavenly glow. Freedom, I think.

Fear, ravenous fear lunges upon me. A hand grips my shoulder firmly. Pain arcs up my arm like lightening. I yelp, but no sound escapes. A stench fills the air–rotten, decaying, blackened flesh.

"The Dark Man, He is here," whispers a voice in my ear. It is rife with mocking fear. Sheer terror rockets through me. I know that the end is near, the inevitable, merciless end.

"No, no . . ." I pray.

A cackle erupts nearby.

The light blinks out.

I am swallowed up in darkness.


End file.
